A wide variety of containers include closure systems which allow for the alternate opening and closing of the container without removal of a cap portion from the container. Examples of such systems are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,958 issued to Amos; U.S. Pat. No. 1,958,414 issued to Bogeaus; U.S. Pat. No. 3,321,114 issued to Croyle; U.S. Pat. No. 3,193,154 issued to Bross; U.S. Pat. No. 529,221 issued to Wagner; U.S. Pat. No. 2,207,816 issued to Packer; U.S. Pat. No. 2,768,771 issued to Beutel; U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,958,430 and 1,958,434 issued to Hartog; U.S. Pat. No. 2,699,885 issued to McClure; U.S. Pat. No. 85,521 issued to Gardner; U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,520 issued to Sarris; U.S. Pat. No. 564,242 issued to Burlich; U.S. Pat. No. 218,698 issued to Beardsley; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,247,497 issued to Brown.
These previous expedients each provide a means by which a first portion of a closure device is movable with respect to a second portion of the closure device. This relative movement allows the closure device to be placed into either an open position in which the contents of a container can flow out of the container or a closed position in which the contents of the container are restricted from flowing out of the container. The elements which are movable with respect to one another have heretofore been manufactured separately and assembled together to provide a single closure device with at least two component parts moving relative to each other.
The use of several component parts in the manufacture of any product is often avoided for several reasons. One important consideration is, of course, the cost of production. Manufacturing costs are increased in proportion to the number of component parts needed for each closure device. In addition, the time for assembling each of the component parts increases the cost of the device.
Another important consideration in the manufacture of closure devices is quality, particularly the ability of the system to prevent leaking when the device is in its closed position. When more than one component part is used, the integrity of each component part, as well as their precise and accurate assembly, presents several unwanted opportunities for failure in the overall quality of the final assembled device.
For these and other reasons, there has been a long felt need to provide closure devices having as few component parts as possible.
The use of bellows to provide a device of unitary construction with individual portions which are movable with respect to one another is well known in devices such as accordions and collapsible bottles of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 32,379, and the freshness and tamper monitoring closure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,730.
However, previous expedients have failed to recognize the possibility of using flexible or bellow-type construction on closure devices for eliminating the many problems inherent in manufacturing closure devices with several component parts.